The National Economy is a wonder of the world still. It’s 25% larger than its nearest competitor and has been for more than 30 years. While past performance is no predictor of future success, as the investment ads say, there is a perennial jockeying for the title of number 2 competitor and very few nations can make that 33% jump to overtake the USA. While there are positives, this seemingly stable position strongly rewards innovation, investment, and promotion, and, despite inconsistency in over-regulation, allows negatives to perish. This transformation occurs through mergers & acquisitions, bankruptcies, and obsolescence. You may know these forces as globalization, creative destruction, or foreign competition but the import is that no one says the patterns of business will rise above the law of the jungle. Moreover, the transformation may be the result of differing policies between State and Federal Regulators having little to do with the Nation, the continent, or the globe. Amid this maelstrom of countries, capital, and corporations were the workers of Niagara Falls, NY. They made exotic and pedestrian substances, paper sheets, forms & boxes, and electrical components. There were 42,000 people doing this labor in 1948; there were 30,000 less doing that work in 1986. Pick a visualization below to examine national, regional, and local economic inputs and outputs for the review period.
